I know im writing this before anything happend and im maybe mistaken, but with Kobe down and with him the lakers, the Chicago less Rose, the celtics without Rondo, the spurs all banged up, the question mark teams (Hawks and Golden state now without David Lee). Knicks without Amare and have to be carried by Carmelo.Denver who was so exciting at the season is now without Galinary and farried is not healthy.it's like 13 out of 16 teams are no were near a championship calliber.and it sucks as the heat are so healthy.

to me at this point, its one of the non competitve Playoffs EVER.

as the lakers are probably doomed, i hope Denver will put on a show. if not - so lets go the Thunder.

I agree about the lack of real competitiveness; there's 3 or 4 teams (if that) that can be considered contenders

"The first time I ever saw my uniform hanging in the locker I put it on right away, and it just felt like I was putting on golden armour. From that day forward, I just called it 'the golden armour', it just felt like there was something mystical and magical about it" - Kobe Bryant.

Last year's was pretty bad too save for a couple of unlikely series(Grizz vs. Clips) that proved to be entertaining.

The league is in a kind of dumb place right now, if you ask me. For starters, the Lakers aren't winning

No, but seriously, I've never felt the "NBA is WWE" vibe more than I have this season, which is not to say it's all staged but I feel like we have crossed some weird entertainment awareness threshold where actual sport as a competitive challenge of artistry and skill is drowned out by the 24/7/365 turned up to 11 'social' ecosystem to where you almost feel like it might as well just be a video game playing in the background.

(well, not really THAT bad, but it's towards that direction I'm feeling things)

Yes, I believe it is, this is a transition period for the NBA as it is from the old stars fading to the new stars starting to take over. Add to that all the injuries to key players in past seasons like Rose, Rondo, Kobe, and lesser injuries that still hurt teams like David Lee, Danny Granger, Gallinari, hobbled guys like Parker and Ginobili, Chandler, and on and on and on. The Heat picked the most perfect time ever to join up, they have zero opposition to the title the way I see it. Their titles will count the same as anyone else's in history, but I will remember how weak their competition was. Last season it was weak as hell, this season it will be even weaker with the exception of maybe playing the Knicks if they can stay healthy. Other than that the Thunder are worse, the Spurs are worse, the Nuggets have no real stars, whoever comes out of the West is gonna get beat down by the great one the Kang.

Meanwhile Shaq and Kobe had to go through some of the best teams full of vets I've ever seen, MJ had to go through Magic, Drexler, Barkley, Payton, Malone and Stockton (in the Finals, not even counting all those physical East teams along the way), and then all those 80's teams were hall of fame teams vs hall of fame teams. Shame the league is watered down or in transition right now, but very fortunate for LeBron. If the Heat DON'T win it all this season on the other hand, with as deep a team they have plus LeBron, Wade and Bosh as their main guys, I will consider it an epic fail.

The problem with OKC is they are completely outmatched by the Heat, so while OKC will likely win the west, they won't win the whole thing because their strongest weapons don't work against the Heat. It'll be like the early 2000's when the winner of the west is basically the winner of the chip, except reversed and there's no competition out east either. I do feel SA would be a better matchup against the Heat, but there are few teams that can beat OKC at home with the way they get calls.

It's a bit unfortunate due to injuries of the star players already mentioned. As far as the complaint of parity, that's ever year anyway. Only 3-5 teams can win the NBA championship every year. It's been that way for a long time. Before the first preseason game, those teams were...

1. Lakers2. Heat3. Spurs4. OKC

The delusional would throw the Clippers there. The ambitious would have the Grizzlies on that list.

What I'm looking for in this years playoffs (due to injuries of the great vets) are the young guns of the league climbing the mountain of superstardom. If he plays well, Stephen Curry could become a household name this postseason. Paul George might be the next superstar of the league based on what he showed last night (23, 11, and 12). And now that James Harden is in the postseason, let's see how good he really is when a team is clamped down on him for 48 minutes. Given another star to play off, I think his usual game would flourish. But with the overhyped Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons as his most talented teammates, he's going to get locked down.

wcsoldier81 wrote:Players , in general , have to re-evaluate their physical preparation, hygiene ect .... way too many injuries these latest 2 seasons ... this is ridiculous

I think the way the game has changed and how players, seemingly more than ever, just barrel into the lane looking for whistles has more to do with it than anything else. But I dunno, could just be bad luck, I'm sure there have been stretches of the league's history where seemingly every team was missing a key player or two before.

It's been an awful season from the beginning...and I'm not just talking about our problems/injuries. The Bulls and the Celtics were the only 2 teams that could make things interesting in the east but without Rondo and Rose, there's no competition. In the west it's the same old Spurs pretending to be legit contenders and the Thunder who just aren't good enough. I don't see things changing in the next few years. We're approaching a very week era of basketball with all the 90's future HOFers set to retire....

I don't think you can say that. Bulls vs. Celtics had some legendary dustups, the Lebron Cavs seemed to be unstoppable, until they were stopped, again and again. Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry got two new chapters written, and the Lakers had three Finals appearances in a row winning two of them!

I'd say the Playoffs from 2008 until 2011 were solid as far as playoffs go, it was the lockout year when things took a turn south and that trend has only continued into this season.

2007 was a terrible playoffs(except maybe for the Detroit vs. Cavaliers series). 2006 was a terrible playoffs. 2005 was terrible for Lakers fans but everyone else seemed to like it. 2004 was awesome for Lakers fans until the end, everyone else hated it, until the end.